A 55-year drought is over as the Western Bulldogs are on their way to their first grand final since 1961. In a preliminary final for the ages, the Dogs clawed their way to a 6-point victory against the heavily favored Giants to book a place against the Sydney Swans next week.
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It was a tightly contested affair throughout the night with the lead changing hands constantly between the two sides and the margin never exceeding 14 points.
The Bulldogs started the game strongly, dominating the inside 50 count through some elite kicking. But some wayward shots at goal and some opportunistic play from the Giants left the Bulldogs with a razor thin two-point lead at quarter time.
In a fierce and physical display of football both teams suffered key injuries in the second quarter. Jordan Roughead felt the full brunt of a falcon going off the field to due to bleeding in his right eye. It is the unluckiest of injuries for the Dogs’ big man after he started the game strongly against Shane Mumford.
Just minutes later play was stopped briefly as Giants co-captain Callan Ward was knocked out cold after an errant knee from Zaine Cordy caught Ward clean on the chin. Neither player was unable to make it back on the ground.
Despite an advantage in most key statistics the lead for the Bulldogs was a paltry nine points at the half.
The intensity lifted another notch in the third quarter as the Giants midfielders started to impact the game to quickly erode the Dogs’ lead. Led by Tom Scully (30 disposals) and Dylan Shiel (28 disposals), GWS started to dominate out of the center.
With Toby Greene, Jonathon Patton and Rory Lobb combining for 10 goals between them it seemed like the Giants would pull away for a famous victory, after gaining a 14-point buffer three minutes into the last quarter.
But just like Lazarus, the Bulldogs rose again. With Clay Smith and Tory Dickson kicking four goals each and Jason Johannisen providing fearless run off half-back the Dogs reclaimed the lead one final time.
After kicking just one goal for the season, Jackson Macrae kicked arguably the most important goal in history for the Western Bulldogs to seal the game.
The Dogs have been the Cinderella story of the season and now find themselves one win away from finishing a story even Hollywood would have a hard time believing. After ending a 55-year drought tonight the Bulldogs have the chance to end a much more important 61-year drought next Saturday.
Player Votes
3 – Clay Smith
2 – Tom Scully
1 – Jason Johannisen
Pumping Dougie
Guest
Swans have 56,000 members and Doggies 39,000 but the AFL only allow 20,000 seats to each club. The rest of the venue is sold to corporates and AFL / MCC memberships. It will be sold out with all of Victoria getting behind the Doggies!
Gecko
Guest
Might still be a few spare seats at the MCG next week. If there are 20,000 Bulldogs supporters and a similar number of Swans supporters, that's a lot of spare seats to fill with fans from other clubs.
Gecko
Guest
Your votes look about right Mattyb (assuming you meant top 5 Bulldogs, not top 5 on the ground). Dalhaus is one I regularly notice for his superb defensive work but rarely notice for his attacking work. Interesting that he got so many disposals last night. Probably flies under the radar a bit.
Gecko
Guest
Simon GWS have also done a lot of things right. Most of GWS's mature age recruits have been very good, in startk contrast to the Suns. They have a culture of discipline and hard work, in stark contrast to the Suns. You have to compare the one mistake (which I'd rate as small because Foley did have an up-side, attracting extra attention) to a lot of very good management.
Angela
Guest
Genuine and brilliant seem to be the key words for this GF. Nice atmosphere all round for two beaut teams.
peter wolf
Guest
From a supporter of The Pies congratulations to The Doggies, can you imagine if the result went to GWS? Out of the usual almost 90, to 98,000 on Grand Final day, hypothetically how many fans would turn up considering their supporter base. I'd imagine the MCG would not be a sell out?
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
Great to see the Scrays win with the highlight being how much it meant to ex players and long time fans They are a real chance to win it as well with them firing on all cylinders and with such belief in the group. From a dramatic sense there is a real aspect of destiny with their run. I really hope Roughead gets up, he has been immense all season and it would be cruel to see him miss out. lastly, the highest praise goes to GWS who were gallant in defeat and have been huge all season
Simon
Guest
I live in West Sydney and am trying to like the Giants but in the back of my mind I still hate them for signing Folau. They tried to buy us and in doing so devalued their own sporting culture and it's players, they'll always be a symbol of the over corporatisation of sport to me. Anyway sorry for this self involved rant, if you like them then good luck to you. I'll be cheering on The Bulldogs next week.
Raimond
Roar Guru
Stevie J is apparently playing on next year. He has enough premiership medallions anyway.
Kurt
Guest
Yes, great team culture.
Raimond
Roar Guru
With all the talk about how successful the Swans are, it's easy to forget that they have collected only two premierships in their 34 seasons in Sydney, with a notoriously long drought at South Melbourne before that. These teams between them have won just 3 of the last 82 flags.
Paul D
Roar Guru
I can't imagine Steve Johnson is feeling very good about himself tonight. What about this for the Dogs though, epic! All of Melbourne will be behind them. Imagine if they win it next week. Pandemonium. Would seal this year as one of the best seasons for a long time, not that it already isn't, but it will make it particularly memorable.
Donde es Fuss
Guest
great culture? or absolutely none at all. The bandwagon has left the building
Mitcher
Guest
As a Swans fan travelling to Melbourne for the geefa, I was cheering the Dogs so loudly today. Not for any rivalry with GWS. I just genuinely wanted a genuine grand final weekend in Melbourne. With the dogs fans at fever pitch I am absolutely pumped to lap up the atmosphere. A Sydney GWS final would have been flat as all hell down Mexico way.
Kurt
Guest
I agree Dave, I love the way the Giants play, and the Dogs too. You can get as many draft picks as you like (Carlton, GC, Richmond, Melbourne) but it takes a great culture to be within a kick of a GF in your first 5 years of existence as a club.
mattyb
Guest
After predicting the Doggies as Premiership favorites from pre season it now looks pretty right. Nothing has been able to stop this genuinely young group and Saturday proved again to be the case. GWS almost broke away on two occasions but all to no avail. As doggy supporters are well aware,this genuinely young group is a lot different to groups before them and we now get to see how they go in the one day to remember. It was a very tough game with GWS starting little dust ups every time the dogs kicked a goal and on the siren of every break. The dogs dominated the centre and half back which allowed them to go forward on numerous occasions. GWS looked frustrated in the first half but in the second were much better. Both teams had difficulty finding avenues to goal and at the end of the day the men of mayhem strategy proved very successful. Jordon Roughhead appeared to suffer an injured eye but as the dogs have proved all season,they are very difficult to stop. Brilliant victory from the most brilliant of clubs. Votes. 5. Dahlhaus. Was brilliant with game high possessions. Was crashing into packs,smothering and creating run,lifted the dogs every time they needed lifting. 4. Smith. Lead the way for the men of mayhem looking dangerous up forward,keeping the ball forward and kicking four valuable goals. 3. Macrae. Picked up possessions at will as always and was pin point and creative with his disposal. Kicked the sealer and ran all day. 2. Morris. Ever reliable down back and played his best game so far in the finals. Was well supported by Wood,especially in the first half and Boyd. Also solid down back were Hamling and Roberts with Biggs providing some run but Morris was the standout in curtailing the GWS forwards. 1. T Boyd. With Roughhead going down the young man was handed the task of taking on one of the league's leading Ruckman. Held his own and his performance contributed hugely to this magnificent victory. I'd like to give a special to Brian Grillen but unfortunately he was hardly sighted so there isn't much to say. Great victory doggies and you've done the club proud,bring on next week
dave
Guest
But how is this possible? I thought GWS had been gifted the next 5 flags. Seriosly If my team played with as much heart as this 'plastic manufactured team' I'l take it. Well done giants and good luck to the dogs.